


Skating on the Hudson

by as_with_a_sunbeam



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: 1789 - Freeform, Albany - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Ice Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-22
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-07 22:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13444965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/as_with_a_sunbeam/pseuds/as_with_a_sunbeam
Summary: After all the bruising political fights surrounding ratification of the constitution, Eliza is happy to see Hamilton take a break and go ice skating with her and the children. It's a different kind of bruising, at least.Hamliza and Hamilton family fluff





	Skating on the Hudson

**January 1789**

“Please, Papa,” Angelica pleaded, already clutching her ice skates in her mittened hands. She seemed to have waylaid her father on his way to the library, blocking the hallway and staring up at him with her big doe eyes.

Eliza looked upon the pair as she made her way down the main stairway. She couldn’t help the amused breath that escaped when she realized what her daughter was asking. The last time she’d seen her husband attempt to ice skate, his rump had spent more time on the ice than his feet.

Hamilton must have heard the muted laugh, because he glanced up and narrowed his eyes in her direction. She grinned back at him unapologetically. He made a face at her, which made her laugh outright, and then looked back down at their daughter.

He sighed, but, to her surprise, agreed. “All right.”

Angelica’s face lit up with delight.

“But only if Mama comes, too.”

The rat, she thought, narrowing her eyes at him in turn as she rounded the landing to stand beside her husband. Though it was nice to see him in such good spirits. With the Federalist complete and the bruising political fights over the new constitution at an end, he could finally turn his attention back to her and the children.  

Angelica’s pleading gaze shifted to her. “Oh, please, Mama? Please? You must!”

The satisfied little smirk on Hamilton’s face did nothing to ease her annoyance with him. She elbowed him softly in the side, making him expel a puff of breath and turning his smug expression wounded.  When she made a silly face back at him, he laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her close to him.

“I have the little ones to look after,” she addressed her daughter, who was still staring up at her hopefully. “I’m sure your father can manage quite ably without me.”

“Oh, but I can’t, my dear Eliza,” he contradicted. “I need you to hold me up.”

Angelica giggled and Hamilton grinned, clearly unwilling to let her off the hook so easily. Ice skating had been one of her favorite past times when she was younger. She hadn’t been in quite some time, she considered, and with her mother and sisters all here at the Pastures, plenty of people were about to which the other children for a short time. “All right,” she agreed.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Angelica exclaimed with an excited squeal. She quickly embraced her parents, bouncing on the balls of her feet, then raced from the room reporting loudly, “Philip! Papa said yes! And Mama’s coming too!”

“I hate ice skating,” Hamilton grumbled beside her.

She chuckled and looked up at him. “Then why did you say yes?”

“I blame you. She has your eyes.”

She rolled her eyes as she pivoted to fully embrace him, resting her head against the soft material of his tailcoat. His arms wrapped around her in return, and he pressed a kiss to her temple.

“You won’t let me fall, will you?” he asked. His voice sounded almost uncertain, but when she adjusted to see his face, he winked.

“Never, sweetheart,” Eliza replied sincerely nonetheless.

“What are they doing?” Angelica’s voice carried down the hall to them. She glanced over to see her son’s face peeking around the corner. He, too, was already bundled up to go outside.

“They’re hugging,” she heard Philip huff in exasperation as his face disappeared.

She and Hamilton shared an amused expression, and she kissed him quickly before she pulled away to get ready. The children were waiting impatiently by the front door while she hunted for her and Hamilton’s ice skates and donned her cloak, hat, mittens, and scarf. As she wrapped the scarf around her neck, Hamilton asked, “Have you seen my hat?”

“Um, no,” she frowned, joining him to look around the entryway through the assortment of winter clothing. Philip gave another huff as they searched, and Angelica appeared ready to bounce out of her skin.

“I’ll be fine,” Hamilton decided when neither of them located the item after another minute. “Let’s just go.”

Their two children had already opened the door and sprinted outside before Eliza could voice an objection. Sighing, she warned him, “Don’t come to me for sympathy when you catch cold.” He merely grinned in response; they both knew she was lying.

Philip and Angelica had disappeared from sight when she and Hamilton followed them outside, but the children’s laughter carried up to them from the winding path that led to the river. The Hudson had firmly frozen over in the deep cold of winter, and the ice sparkled beautifully in the bright sunlight as they set off in the same direction as their children. When they finally caught up, they saw Philip and Angelica had both abandoned the cleared path and were bounding straight down the hill, heedless of the half foot of snow on the ground.  

Hamilton’s mittened hand wrapped around hers. “Ah, to be young again.”

Eliza squeezed his hand back. He sounded almost nostalgic, which made little sense. “I didn’t think you ever had occasion to run through the snow as a child.”

“No, I didn’t,” he agreed lightly. “I feel rather robbed of the experience.”

“Aww,” she cooed teasingly.

He yanked her towards him, laughing as she yelped and fell easily into his arms. His nose and cheeks were already red as he pulled her close for a kiss. “We should have kept looking for your hat,” she said, cupping his cheek. “I told you you’d be cold.”

“You’ll just have to keep me warm,” he whispered huskily.

“Mama! Papa!” Philip called from up ahead. “Hurry up!”

Hamilton laughed again as he released her to continue down the path.

When they arrived at the riverbank, Philip and Angelica had already finished attaching their skates. “Can we go?” Angelica asked as Eliza bent forward to start attaching her own.

“Yes, yes, go ahead,” she allowed. The children both took naturally to the ice, pushing out and quickly gathering speed. Philip had reached out to hold his little sister’s hand, she noticed with a fond smile when she straightened.

“Ready?” she asked Hamilton.

He was fumbling with the strap of his right skate, and he muttered, “Just a minute.”

Stepping onto the river, she pushed off on her right foot, getting the feel for the blade fastened under her shoe. She glided out a little ways before skating back towards the bank where her husband was standing very carefully in place.  She took him by the hands and began to skate backwards, dragging him in tow.

“Now you’re just showing off,” he huffed at her, though his sunny smile showed her he was jesting.

His skates slid in and out in a slightly wobbly path beneath him as they made their way further out on the river. He held tight to her hands as she pulled him, his eyes trained down on his feet. “Are you all right, sweetheart?” she asked when his skate glided over a rough patch in the ice.

“Mm,” he hummed nervously. The uncertainty in his expression was unusual, and, honestly, rather adorable.

“You look like a baby deer learning to walk,” she observed fondly as his knees wobbled once more. He glared at the comparison, but the expression held no heat.

Angelica skated up beside them, watching her mother with interest. “You’re skating backwards, Mama.”

She smiled. “I know.”

“How do you do that?” her daughter asked.

“Would you like me to teach you?”

Angelica’s head bobbed happily, but she felt her husband's grip grow tighter.

“You can’t let go,” he said quickly. “I’ll fall.”

She eased them to a stop and moved closer to peck his lips. “You’ll be fine,” she promised. “Just one foot, then the other, like you’ve been doing.”  

“You can do it, Papa,” Angelica encouraged, speeding in a circle around her parents. “See? It’s easy.”

He looked very unconvinced as she eased her hands away from his.

Philip skated up beside them as well, and asked, “Can you show me how to skate backwards, too, Mama?”

“Of course,” she agreed, reaching out to take Angelica’s hand. “Here, line your feet up like this.”

She vaguely heard Hamilton’s skates on the ice as she demonstrated the art of skating backwards to her two eldest children. They both caught on to the skill quickly; Philip was sailing backwards after one try. Angelica let go of her hand to chase after her brother, turning around when she’d caught up and, concentrating carefully, her tongue poking out between her teeth, she pushed off backwards as well.

Her gaze found her husband, still close by, skating very slowly and deliberately. She glided closer to him. “Looking good, handsome.”

He glanced up at her with a smile. Then, abruptly, his skates went out from under him and he landed on his bottom with a thump. Their children burst out laughing, and Eliza had to fight down the impulse to do the same.

“Are you hurt, darling?” she asked, stopping in front of him.

“Just my pride,” he answered with an embarrassed smile. “Help me up?”

She reached out a hand to haul him back to his feet.

“Don’t let go this time,” he ordered once he was standing again.  

“I won’t,” she promised.

Then, as she pushed off to skate closer to the children, his skate caught another rough patch and he went down hard on one knee, nearly taking her out with him.

“Ow.”

She winced sympathetically, still holding his hands. “Oh, honey.”

He closed his eyes and hung his head, but she could see his shoulders start to shake with laughter. “Can we go in yet?” he asked.

“No!” Philip called just behind them.

“You can do it, Papa,” Angelica encouraged again.

She waited to see if he’d give in to his children. Her husband didn’t disappoint. “All right, all right. Help me up again.”

**

“I hate ice skating. I have bruises everywhere,” Hamilton declared from the dressing room later that night, after they put the children in bed. Eliza smiled, looking up from the book she was reading and smoothing the blanket down. He came out into the bedroom dressed in his nightshirt and stopped in front of the fireplace, poking at the blazing logs with the fire rod. The fire crackled as the flames grew, bathing their room with a warm reddish glow.

“Oh, you had fun. Admit it,” she argued, laying her book down on her lap as she watched him tend the fire.

Amusement danced in his eyes as he looked over at her. “Fun?” he repeated.

She nodded with a grin.

“Is this what you call fun?” He rolled up his sleeve as he crawled up onto the bed and pointed to his elbow, which had turned black and blue. “And this,” he added, pulling his knee up towards his chest to show her his right knee.

“My poor darling,” she cooed, only half teasing.

“Not to mention my backside,” he noted, shifting his leg and tugging the blankets up around him as he settled into bed beside her.

She smirked. “I notice you aren’t showing me that bruise.”

He wrinkled his nose playfully.

She placed her book on the side table and rolled over to hug him. “I’m sorry you’re all bruised.”

He squeezed her against him. “I’m tough. I can take it.”

When she laughed, he growled jokingly and rolled over on top of her. His protest was somewhat weakened when he hissed as his knee bumped on the mattress. She ran her hands along his chest as she gazed up at him adoringly. “Very tough,” she teased.

“Hush, you,” he laughed.

“Make me,” she challenged him.

His brow raised and he smirked down at her as he tipped his face close to hers, kissing her softly. Just the tactic she’d been hoping for, she thought, adjusting her arms around him to pull him closer. Her fingers tangled in his queue as their kiss deepened.

She’d always loved ice skating.

**Author's Note:**

> Just some sweet 1780s fluff set just before Hamilton was appointed Treasury Secretary. One of my favorite parts of Elizabeth Cobbs' Hamilton Affair is Hamilton being awful at ice skating. I wanted to put my own spin on that brilliant idea.
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! Feedback greatly appreciated!


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